Vampire Academy South style
by Kicks5000
Summary: Ashley Hathaway is a Dhampir, half-vampire half-human who must keep her best friend Spencer alive and out of the Strigoi's clutches. Spencer Dragomir is a Moroi princess, a vampire who is mortal and hides a very unique gift that threatens her life.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: ****_Ok i know there is already a story of vampire academy in a South of nowhere style on here but i'm going to do another one. One that semi follows the book but not word for word. Oh and as for the last names well they are staying the same, and the first names will change_**

**Chapter 1**

I felt her fear before I heard her screams. Her nightmare pulsed into me, images- hers, not mine- tumbled into my mind. Fire and blood, the smell of smoke, the twisted metal of a car. The pictures wrapped around me, suffocating me, until some rational part of my brain reminded me that this was not _my _dream.

I woke up, strands of long dark hair sticking to my forehead. Spencer lay in bed, thrashing and screaming. I bolted out of mine, quickly crossing the few feet that separated us.

"Spence," I said, shaking her. "Spence, wake up."

Her screams dropped off, replaced by soft whimpers.

"Clay," She moaned. "Oh God."

I helped her sit up, "Spence, you aren't there anymore. wake up."

After a few minutes, her eyes fluttered open. Her frantic breathing slowed, and she leaned into me, resting her head against my shoulder. I put an arm around her and ran a hand over her hair.

"It's okay," I told her gently. "Everything's okay."

"I had that dream."

"Yeah, I know."

We sat like that for several minutes, not saying anything else. When I felt her emotions calm down, I leaned over to the nightstand between our beds and turned on the lamp. It glowed dimly, but neither of us really needed much to see by. Attracted by the light, our housemate's cat, Oscar, leapt up onto the sill of the open window.

He gave me a wide berth- animals don't like dhampirs, for whatever reason- but jumped onto the bed and rubbed his head against Spence, purring softly. Animals didn't have a problem with Moroi. Smiling, she scratched his chin, and I felt her calm further.

"When did we last do a feeding?" I asked, studying her face. Her fair skin was paler than usual. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and there was an air of frailty about her. School had been hectic this week, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd given her blood.

"It's been like...more than two days, hasn't it? Three? Why didn't you say anything?"

She shrugged and wouldn't meet my eyes. "You were busy. I didn't want to-"

"Screw that," I said, shifting into a better position. Oscar, not wanting me closer returned to the window. "Come on. Let's do this."

"Ash-"

"Come _on. _It'll make you feel better."

I tilted my head and tossed my hair back, baring my neck. I saw her hesitate, but the sight of my neck and what it offered proved to be to powerful. A hungry expression crossed her face, and her lips parted slightly, exposing the fangs she normally kept hidden while living among humans. Those fangs contrasted oddly with the rest of her features. With her pretty face and blond hair, she looked more like an angel than a vampire.

As her teeth neared my bare skin, I felt my heart race with a mix of fear and anticipation. I always hated feeling the latter, but it was nothing i could help, a weakness I couldn't shake.

Her fangs bit into me, hard, and I cried out at the brief flare of pain. Then it faded, replaced by a wonderful, golden joy that spread through my body. It was better than any of times I'd been drunk or high. Better than sex- or so I imagined, since I'd never done it. It was a blanket of pure, refined pleasure, wrapping me up an promising everything would be right in the world. On and on it went. The chemicals in her saliva triggered an endorphin rush, and I lost track of the world, lost track of who I was.

Then, regretfully, it was over. It had taken less that a minute.

She pulled back, wiping her hand across her lips as she studied me. "You okay?"

"I...yeah." I lay back on the bed, dizzy from the blood loss. "I just need to sleep it off. I'm fine."

Her blue eyes watched me with concern. She stood up. "I'm going to go get you something to eat."

I started to protest, but she was already gone before I could get out a sentence. The buzz from her bite had lessened as soon as she brooke the connection, but some of it still lingered in my veins, and I felt a goofy smile cross my lips. I turned my head to the window sill and spotted Oscar.

"You don't know what you're missing," I told him.

His attention was on something outside. He puffed out his jet-black fur. His tail started twitching. My smile faded, and I forced myself to sit up. The world spun, and I waited for it to right itself before trying to stand. When I managed it, the dizziness set in again and this time refused to leave. Still, I felt okay to stumble to the window and peer out with Oscar. He scooted over a little, and then returned to whatever had held his attention.

I leaned out, the streets was dark and relatively quiet. It was three in the morning, just about the only time a college campus settled down, at least somewhat. Across the road, a streetlight flickered, nearly ready to burn out. It still cast enough light for me to make out the shapes of cars and buildings. In our own yard, I could see the silhouettes of trees and bushes. And a man watching me.

I jerked back in surprise. A figure stood by a tree in the yard, about thirty feet away, where he could easily see through the window. He was close enough that I probably could have thrown something and hit him. He was certainly close enough that he could have seen what Spencer and I had just done.

The shadows covered him so well that even with my heightened sight, I couldn't make out any of his features, save for his height. He was tall. Really tall. He stood there for just a moment, barely discernible, and then stepped back, disappearing into the shadows cast by the trees on the far side of the yard. I was pretty sure that I saw someone else move nearby and join him before the blackness swallowed them both.

Icy fear raced through me, almost- but not quite- eradicating the lovely bliss of Spencer's bite. Backing up from the window, I jerked on a pair of jeans that I found on the floor, nearly falling over in the process. Once they were on, I grabbed my coat and Spencer's, along with our wallets. Shoving my feet into the first shoes I saw, I headed out the door.

I found Spencer in the cramped kitchen, rummaging through the refrigerator. One of our housemates, Jeremy, sat at the table, hand on his forehead as he stared sadly at a calculus book. Spencer regarded me in surprise.

"You shouldn't be up."

"We have to go. Now."

Her eyes widened, and then a moment later, understanding clicked in. "Are you...really? Are you sure?"

I nodded. I couldn't explain how I knew for sure. I just did.

Jeremy watched us curiously. "What's wrong?"

An idea came to mind. "Spence, get his car keys."

Spencer unhesitatingly walked over to him. Her fear poured into me through our psychic bond, but there was something else too: her complete faith that I would take care of everything, that we would be safe. Like always, I hoped I was worthy of that kind of trust.

She smiled broadly and gazed directly into his eyes. For a moment, Jeremy just stared, still confused, and then I saw the thrall seize him. His eyes glazed over, and he regarded her adoringly.

"We need to borrow your car," she said in a gentle voice. "Where are your keys?"

He smiled, and I shivered. I had a high resistance to compulsion, but I could still its effects when it was directed at another person. That, and I'd been taught my entire life that using it was wrong. Reaching into his pocket, Jeremy handed her a set of keys.

"Thank you," said Spencer. "And where is it parked?"

"Down the street," he said dreamily. "At the corner. By Brown." Four blocks away.

"Thank you," she repeated, backing up. "As soon as we leave, I want you to go back to studying. Forget you ever saw us tonight."

He nodded obligingly. I got the impression he would have walked off a cliff for her right then if she'd asked. All humans were susceptible to compulsion, but Jeremy appeared weaker than most.

"Come on," I told her. "We've got to move."

We stepped outside, heading for the corner he'd named. I was dizzy from the bite and kept stumbling, unable to move as quickly as I wanted. Spencer had to catch hold of me a few times to stop me from falling. All the time, that anxiety rushed into me from her mind. I tried my best to ignore it; I had my own fears to deal with.

"Ash...what are we going to do if they catch us?" she whispered.

"They won't," I said fiercely. "I won't let them."

"But if they've found us-"

"They found us before. They didn't catch us then. We'll just drive over to the train station and go to L.A. They'll lose the trail."

I made it sound so simple. I always did, even though there was nothing simple about being on the run from the people we'd grown up with. We'd been doing it for two years, hiding wherever we could and just trying to finish high school. Our senior year just started, and living on a college campus had seemed safe. We were so close to freedom.

She said nothing more and I felt her faith in me surged up one more. This was the way it had always been between us. I was the one who took action, who made sure things happened- sometimes recklessly so. She was the more reasonable one, the one who thought things out and researched them extensively before attacking. Both styles had its uses, but at the moment, recklessness was called for.

Spencer and I had been best friends ever since kindergarten, when our teacher had paired us together for writing lessons. Forcing five-year-olds to spell _Spencer Dragomir_ and _Ashley Hathaway_was beyond cruel, and we'd- or rather, _I'd_- responded appropriately. I'd chucked my book at our teacher and called her a fascist bastard. I hadn't known what those words meant, but I'd known how to hit a moving target. Spencer and I had been inseparable ever since.

"Did you hear that?" she asked suddenly.

It took me a few seconds to pick up what her sharper senses already had. Footsteps, moving fast. I grimaced. We had two more block to go.

"We've got to run for it," I said, catching hold of her arm.

"But you can't-"

"Run."

It took every once of my willpower not to pass out on the sidewalk. My body didn't want to run after losing blood or while still metabolizing the effects of her saliva. But I ordered my muscles to stop their bitching and clung onto Spencer as our feet pounded against the concrete.

The pursuing footsteps grew louder, closer. Black stars danced before my eyes. Ahead of us, I could make out Jeremy's green Honda. Oh God, if we could just make it-

Ten feet from the car, a man stepped directly into our path. We came to a screeching halt, and I jerked Spencer back by her arm. It was _him,_ the guy I'd seen across the street watching me. He was older than us, maybe mid-twenties, and as tall as I'd figured, probably six-six or six-seven. And under different circumstances- say, when he wasn't holding up our desperate escape-I would have thought he was hot. Shoulder-length black hair, tied back in a short ponytail. Dark hazel eyes. A long brown coat-a duster, I thought it was called.

But his hotness was irrelevant now. He was the only obstacle keeping Spencer and me away from the car and our freedom. The footsteps behind us slowed, and I knew our pursuers had caught up. Off to the sides, I detected more movement, more people closing in. God. They'd sent almost a dozen guardians to retrieve us. I couldn't believe it. The queen herself didn't travel with that many.

Panicked and not entirely in control of my higher reasoning, I acted out of instinct. I pressed up to Spencer, keeping her behind me and away from the man who appeared to be the leader.

"Leave her alone," I growled. "Don't touch her."

His face was unreadable, but he held out his hands in what apparently supposed to be some sort of calming gesture, like I was a rabid animal he was planning to sedate.

"I'm not going to-"

He took a step forward. Too close.

I attacked him, leaping out in an offensive maneuver I hadn't used in two years, not since Spencer and I had run away. The move was stupid, another reaction born of instinct and fear. And it was hopeless. He was a skilled guardian, not a novice who hadn't finished his training. He also wasn't weak and on the verge of passing out.

And man, was he fast. I'd forgotten how fast guardians could be, how they could move and strike like cobras. He knocked me off as though brushing away a fly, and his hands slammed into me and sent me backwards. I don't think he meant to strike that hard- but my lack of coordination interfered with my ability to respond. Unable to catch my footing, I started to fall, heading straight toward the sidewalk at a twisted angle, hip-first. It was going to hurt. A _lot_.

Only it didn't.

Just as quickly as he'd blocked me, the man reached out and caught my arm, keeping me upright. When I'd steadied myself, I noticed he was staring at me-or, more precisely, at my neck. Still disoriented, I didn't get it right away. Then, slowly, my free hand reached up to the side of my throat and lightly touched the wound Spencer had made earlier. When I pulled my finger back, I saw slick, dark blood on my skin. Embarrassed, I shook my hair so that it fell forward around my face. My hair was thick and long and completely covered my neck. I'd grown it out for precisely this reason.

The guy's dark eyes lingered on the now- covered bite a moment longer and then met mine. I returned his look defiantly and quickly jerked out of his hold. He let me go, though I knew he could have restrained me all night if he'd wanted. Fighting the nauseating dizziness, I backed toward Spencer, bracing myself for another attack. Suddenly, her hand caught hold of mine. "Ash," she said quietly. "Don't."

Her words had no effect on me at first, but calming thoughts gradually began to settle in my mind, coming across through the bond. It wasn't exactly compulsion- she wouldn't use that on me- but it was effectual, as was the fact that we were hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed. Even I knew struggling would be pointless. The tension left my body, and I sagged in defeat.

Sensing my resignation, the man stepped forward, turning his attention to Spencer. His face was calm. He swept her a bow and managed to look graceful doing it, which surprised me considering his height. "My name is Aiden Belikov," he said. I could hear a faint Russian accent.

"I've come to take you back to St. Vladmir's Academy, Princess."

_Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belongs to Richelle Mead and South of Nowhere Belongs to Tom Lynch_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey Thanks For the reviews and Yes I told you that I was not fully following the book word for word...but most of the beginning is really...what do you call it info- a need to know thing for the story so some of the coming up chapter are going to follow the book very extensively.**

**Disclaimer: Vampire Academy belong to Richelle Mead and South of Nowhere belongs to Tom lynch**

**Chapter 2**

My hatred notwithstanding. I had to admit Aiden Beli- whatever was pretty smart. After they'd carted us off to the airport to and onto to the Academy's private jet, he'd taken one look at the two of us whispering and ordered us separated.

"Don't let them talk to each other," he warned the guardian who escorted me to the back of the plane. "Five minutes together, and they'll come up with an escape plan."

I shot him a haughty look and stormed off down the aisle. Never mind the fact that we _had_ been planning escape.

As it was, things didn't look good for our heroes-or heroines, rather. Once we were in the air, our odds of escape dropped further. Even supposing a miracle occurred and I did manage to take out all ten guardians, we'd sort of have a problem getting off the plane. I figured they might have parachutes aboard somewhere, but in the unlikely event I'd be able to operate one, there was still that little issue of survival, seeing as we'd probably land somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

No, we weren't getting off this plane until it landed in backwoods Montana. I'd have to think of something then, something that involved getting past the Academy's magical wards and ten times as many guardians. Yeah. No problem.

Although Spencer sat at the front with the Russian guy, her fear sang back to me, pounding inside my head like a hammer. My concern for her cut into my fury. They couldn't take her back _there_, not to that place. I wondered if Aiden might have hesitated if he could feel what I did and if he knew what I knew. Probably not. He didn't care.

As it was, her emotions grew so strong that for a moment, I had the disorienting sensation of sitting in her seat-in her _skin_ even. It happened sometimes, and without much warning, she'd pulled me right ­ into her head. Aiden's tall frame sat beside me, and my hand-_her_ hand-gripped a bottle of water. He leaned forward to pick up something, revealing six tiny symbols tattooed on the back of his neck: _molnija _marks. They looked like two streaks of jagged lightning crossing in an X symbol. One for each Strigoi he'd killed. Above them was a twisting line, sort of like a snake, that marked him as a guardian. The promise mark.

Blinking, I fought against her and shifted back into my own head with a grimace. I hated when that happened. Feeling Spencer's emotions was one thing, but slipping into her was something we both despised. She saw it as an invasion of privacy, so I usually didn't tell her when it happened. Neither of us could control it. It was another affect of the bond, a bond neither of us fully understood. Legends existed about psychic links between guardians and their Moroi, but the stories had never mentioned anything like this. We fumbled through it as the best we could.

Near the end of the flight, Aiden walked back to where I sat and traded places with the guardian beside me. I pointedly turned away, staring out the window absentmindedly.

Several moments of silence passed. Finally, he said, "Were you really going to attack all of us?"

I didn't answer.

"Doing that… protecting her like that- it was very brave." He paused. "_Stupid, _but still brave. Why did you even try it?"

I glanced over at him, brushing my hair out of my face so I could look him levelly in the eye. "Because I'm her guardian." I turned back toward the window.

After another quiet moment, he stood up and returned to the front of the jet.

When we landed, Spencer and I had no choice but to let the commandos drive us out to the Academy. Our car stopped at the gate, and our driver spoke with the guards who verified we weren't Strigoi about to go off on a killing spree. After a minute, they let us through the wards and up to the Academy itself. It was around sunset- and the campus lay wrapped in shadows.

It probably looked the same, sprawling and gothic. The Moroi were big on tradition; nothing ever changed with them. This school wasn't as old as the ones back in Europe, but it had been built in the same style. The buildings boasted elaborate, almost church-like architecture, with high peaks and stone carvings. Wrought iron gates enclosed small gardens and doorways here and there. After living on a college campus, I had a new appreciation for just how much this place resembled a university more than a typical high school.

We were on the secondary campus, which was divided into lower and upper schools. Each was built around a large open quadrangle decorated with stone paths and enormous, century-old trees. We were going toward the upper school's quad, which had academic buildings on one side, while dhampir dormitories and gym sat opposite. Moroi dorms sat on one of the other ends, and opposite them were the administrative buildings that also served the lower school. Younger students lived on the primary campus, farther to the west.

Around all the campuses was space, space, and more space. We were in Montana, after all, miles away from any real city. The air felt cool in the lungs and smelled of pine and wet, decaying leaves. Overgrown forests ringed the perimeters of the Academy, and during the day, you could see mountains rising up in the distance.

As we walked into the main part of the upper school, I broke from my guardian and ran up to Aiden.

"Hey, Comrade."

He kept walking and wouldn't look at me. "You want to talk now?"

"Are you taking us to Paula?"

"_Headmistress_ Paula," he corrected. On the other side of him, Spencer shot me a look that said, _Don't start something._

"Headmistress. Whatever. She's still a self-righteous old bit-"

My words faded as the guardians led us through a set of doors- straight into the commons. I sighed. Were these people _really_ so cruel? There had to be at least a dozen ways to get to Paula's office, and they were taking us right through the center of the commons.

And it was breakfast time.

Novice guardians-dhampirs like me- and Moroi sat together, eating and socializing, faces alight with whatever current gossip held the Academy's attention. When we entered, the loud buzz of conversation stopped instantly, like someone had flipped a switch. Hundreds of sets of eyes swiveled toward us.

I returned the stares of my former class mates with a lazy grin, trying to get a sense as to whether things had changed or not. Nope. Didn't seem like it. Camille Conta still looked like the prim, perfectly groomed bitch I remembered, still the self-appointed leader of the Academy's royal Moroi cliques. Off to the side, Spencer's gawky near-cousin Kyla watched with wide eyes, as innocent and naïve as before.

And on the other side of the room… well, that was interesting. Aaron. Poor, poor Aaron, who'd no doubt had his heart broken when Spencer left. He still looked as cute as ever- maybe more so now- with those same golden looks that complemented hers so well. His eyes followed her every move. Yes. Definitely not over her. It was sad, really, because Spencer had never really been all that into him. I think she'd gone out with him simply because it seemed like the expected thing to do.

But what I found most interesting was that Aaron had apparently found a way to pass the time without her. Beside him, holding his hand, was a Moroi girl who looked about eleven but had to be older, unless he'd become a pedophile during our absence. With plump little cheeks and brunette ringlets, she looked like a porcelain doll. A very pissed off and evil porcelain doll. She gripped his hand tightly and shot Spencer a look of such burning hatred that it stunned me. What the hell was that all about? She was no one I knew. Just a jealous girlfriend, I guessed. I'd be pissed too if my guy was watching someone else like that.

Our walk of shame mercifully ended, though our new setting- Headmistress Paula's office-didn't really improve things. The old hag looked exactly like I remembered, sharp-nosed and gray-haired. She was tall and slim, like most Moroi, and had always reminded me of a vulture. I knew her well because I'd spent a lot of time in her office.

Most of our escorts left us once Spencer and I were seated, and I felt a little less like a prisoner. Only Alberta, the captain of the school's guardians, and Aiden stayed. They took up positions along the wall, looking stoic and terrifying, just as their job description required.

Paula fixed her angry eyes on us and opened her mouth to begin what would no doubt be a major bitch session. A deep, gentle voice stopped her.

"Spencer."

Startled, I realized there was someone else in the room. I hadn't noticed. Careless for a guardian, even a novice one. With a great deal of effort, Victor Dashkov rose from a corner chair. _Prince_Victor Dashkov. Spencer sprang up and ran to him, throwing her arms around his frail body.

"Uncle," she whispered. She sounded on the verge of tears as she tightened her grip.

With a small smile, he gently patted her back. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you safe, Spencer." He looked toward me. "And you too, Ash."

I nodded back, trying to hide how shocked I was. He'd been sick when we left, but this-this was _horrible_. He was Kyla's father, only about forty or so, but he looked twice that age. Pale. Withered. Hands shaking. My heart broke watching him. With all the horrible people in the world, it didn't seem fair that this guy should get a disease that was going to kill him young and ultimately keep him from becoming king.

Although not technically her uncle- the Moroi used family terms very loosely, especially the royals- Victor was a close friend of Spencer's family and had gone out of his way to help her after parents had died. I liked him; he was the first person I was happy to see here.

Paula let them have a few more moments and then stiffly drew Spencer back to her seat.

Time for the lecture

It was a good one- one of Paula's best, which was saying something. She was a master at them. I swear that was the only reason she'd gone into school administration, because I had yet to see any evidence of her actually _liking _kids. The rant covered the usual topics: responsibility, reckless behavior, self-centeredness…….Bleh. I immediately found myself spacing out, alternatively pondering the logistics of escaping through the window in her office.

But when the tirade shifted to me- well , that was when I tuned back in.

"You, Miss Hathaway, broke the most sacred promise among our kind: the promise of a guardian to protect a Moroi. It is a great trust. A trust you violated by selfishly taking the princess away from here. The Strigoi would love to finish off the Dragomirs;_ you_ nearly enabled them to do it."

"Ash didn't kidnap me." Spencer spoke before I could, her voice and face calm, despite her uneasy feelings. "I wanted to go. Don't blame her."

_tsk_ed at us both and paced the office, hands folded behind her narrow back.

"Miss Dragomir, you could have been the one who orchestrated the entire plan for all I know, but it was still _her_ responsibility to make sure you didn't carry it out. If she'd done her duty, she would have notified someone. If she'd done her duty, she would have kept you safe."

I snapped.

"I _did_do my duty!" I shouted, jumping up from my chair. Aiden and Alberta both flinched but left me alone since I was trying to hit anyone. Yet. "I did keep her safe! I kept her when none of_ you_" –I made a sweeping gesture around the room-"could do it. I took her away to protect her. I did what I had to do. You certainly weren't going to."

Through the bond, I felt Spencer trying to send me calming messages, again urging me not to let anger get the best of me. Too late.

Paula stared at me, her face blank. "Miss Hathaway, forgive me if I fail to see the logic of how taking her out of a heavily guarded, magically secured environment is protecting her. Unless there's something you aren't telling us?"

I bit my lip.

"I see. Well, then. By my estimation, the only reason you left- aside from the novelty of it, no doubt-was to avoid the consequences of that horrible, destructive stunt you pulled just before your disappearance."

"No, that's not-"

"And that only makes my decision that much easier. As a Moroi, the princess must continue on here at the Academy for her own safety, but we have no such obligations to you. You will be sent away as soon as possible."

My cockiness dried up. "I…what?"

Spencer stood up beside me. "You can't do that! She's my guardian."

"She is no such thing, particularly since she isn't even a guardian at all. She's still a novice."

"But my parents-"

"I know what your parents wanted, God rest their souls, but things have changed. Miss Hathaway is expendable. She doesn't deserve to be a guardian, and she will leave."

I stared at Paula, unable to believe what I was hearing. "Where are you going to send me? To my mom in Nepal? Did she even know I was gone? Or maybe you'll send me off to my _father_?"

Her eyes narrowed at the bite in that last word. When I spoke again, my voice was so cold, I barely recognized it.

"Or maybe you're going to send me off to be a blood whore. Try that, and we'll be gone by the end of the day."

"Miss Hathaway," she hissed," you are out of line."

"They have a bond." Aiden's low, accented voice broke the heavy tension, and we all but turned toward him. I think Paula had forgotten he was there, but I hadn't. His presence was way too powerful to ignore. He still stood against the wall, looking like some sort of cowboy sentry in the ridiculous long coat of his. He looked at me, not Spence, his dark eyes staring straight through me. "Ash knows what Spencer is feeling. Don't you?"

I at least had the satisfaction of seeing Paula caught off guard as she glanced between us and Aiden. "No…that's impossible. That has happened in centuries."

"It's obvious," he said. "I suspected it as soon I as I started watching them."

Neither Spence nor I responded, and I averted my eyes from his.

"That is a gift," murmured Victor from his corner. "A rare and wonderful thing."

"The best guardians always had that bond," added Aiden. "In the stories."

Paula's outrage returned. "Stories that are centuries old," she exclaimed. "Surely you aren't suggesting we let her stay at the Academy after everything she's done?"

He shrugged. "She might be wild and disrespectful, but if she had potential-"

"Wild and disrespectful?" I interrupted."Who the hell are you anyway? Outsourced help?"

"Guardian Belikov is the princess's guardian now," said Paula. "Her _stationed_ guardian."

"You got cheap foreign labor to protect Spence?"

That was pretty mean of me to say- particularly since most Moroi and their guardians were of Russian or Romanian descent-but the comment seemed cleverer at the time than it really was. And it wasn't like I was one to talk. I might have been raised in the U.S., but my parents were foreign-born. My dhampir mother was Scottish-black-haired, with a ridiculous accent- and I'd been told my Moroi dad was Turkish. That genetic combination had given me skin the same color as the inside of an almond, along with what I liked to think were semi-exotic desert-princess features: big dark eyes and hair so deep brown that it usually looked black.

Paula threw her hand up in exasperation and turned to him. "You see? Completely undisciplined! All the psychic bonds and _very _raw potential in the world can't make up for that. A guardian without discipline is worse than no guardian."

"So teach her discipline. Classes just started. Put her back in and get her training again."

"Impossible. She'll still be hopelessly behind her peers."

"No, I won't," I argued. No one listened to me.

"Then give her extra training sessions," he said.

They continued on while the rest of us watched the exchange like it was a Ping-Pong game. My pride was still hurt over the ease with which Aiden had tricked us, but it occurred to me that he might very well keep me here with Spence. Better to stay at this hellhole than to be without her. Through our bond, I could feel her trickle of hope.

"Who's going to put in extra time?" demanded Paula. "You?"

Aiden's argument came to an abrupt stop. "Well, that not what I-"

Paula crossed her arms with satisfaction. "Yes. That's what I thought."

Clearly at a loss, he frowned. His eyes flicked toward Spence and me, and I wondered what he saw. Two pathetic girls, looking at him with big, pleading eyes? Or two runaways who'd broken out of a high-security school and swiped half of Spence's inheritance?

"Yes," he said finally. "I can mentor Ash. I'll give her extra sessions along with her normal ones."

"And then what?" retorted Paula angrily. "She goes unpunished?"

"Find some other way to punish her," answered Aiden. "Guardian numbers have gone down too much to risk losing another. A girl, in particular."

His unspoken words made me shudder, reminding me of my earlier statement about "blood whores." Few dhampir girls became guardians anymore.

Victor suddenly spoke up from his corner. "I'm inclined to agree with Guardian Belikov. Sending Ash away would be a shame, a waste of talent."

Ms. Ivashkov stared out her window. It was completely black outside. With the Academy's nocturnal schedule, _morning_ and _afternoon_ were relative terms. That, and they kept the window tinted to block out the excess light.

When she turned back around, Spence met her eyes. "Please, Ms. Ivashkov. Let Ash stay."

_Oh, Spence, _I thought. _Be careful._Using compulsion on another Moroi was dangerous-particularly in front of witnesses. But Spence was only using a tiny bit, and we needed all the help we could get. Fortunately, no one seemed to realize what was happening.

I didn't even know if the compulsion made a difference, but finally, Paula sighed.

"If Miss Hathaway stays, here's how it will be." She turned to me. "Your continued enrollment at St Vladimir's is strictly probationary. Step out of line _once,_and you're gone. You will attend all classes and required training for novices you age. You will also train with Guardian Belikov in every spare moment you have-before_ and_ after classes. Other than that, you are banned from all social activities, except meals, and will stay in your dorm. Fail to comply with any of this, and you will be sent…away."

I gave a harsh laugh. "Banned from all social activities? Are you trying to keep us apart?" I nodded towards Spence. "Afraid we'll run away again?"

"I'm taking precautions. As I'm sure you recall, you were never properly punished for destroying school property. You have a lot to make up for." Her thin lips tightened into a straight line. "You are being offered a very generous deal. I suggest you don't let your attitude endanger it."

I started to say it wasn't generous at all, but then I caught Aiden's gaze. It was hard to read. He might have been telling me he believed in me. He might have been telling me I was an idiot to keep fighting with Paula. I didn't know.

Looking away from him for the second time during the meeting, I stared at the floor, conscious of Spence beside me and her encouragement burning in our bond. At long last, I exhaled and glanced back up at the headmistress.

"Fine. I accept."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Thanks to:**

**mini200do**

**Emma James**

**SONrox**

**Sexyluv07**

**str. princess: **_**To answer you, yes the story of Spencer's family background will be told throughout the story and Also I will be adding my own twist :). **_

**vfx: **_**To answer you, later in the story it will give you a more detailed description on how they escaped the first time.**_

**and **

**halfeck3929**

**For reviewing, okay on with the story**

Sending us straight to class after our meeting seemed beyond cruel, but that's exactly what Paula did. Spencer was led away, and I watched her go, gladthe bond would allow me to keep reading her emotional temperature. They actually sent me to one of the guidance counselors first.

The visit took all of five minutes. He said nothing about my return and asked a few questions about the classes I'd taken in Chicago and Portland. He compared those against my old file and hastily scrawled out a new schedule. I took it sullenly and headed out to my first class.

_1st period Advanced Guardian Combat Techniques_

_2nd period Bodyguard Theory and Personal Protection 3_

_3rd period Weight Training and Conditioning_

_4th period Senior Language Arts (Novices)_

_-Lunch -_

_5th period Animal Behavior and Physiology_

_6th period Precalculus_

_7th period Moroi Culture 4_

_8th period Slavic Art_

Ugh. I'd forgotten how long the Academy's school day was. Novices and Moroi took separate classes during the first half of the day, which meant I wouldn't see Spencer until after lunch- if we had any classes together.

Aiden and Alberta escorted me to the guardians' gym for first period, neither one acknowledging my existence. Walking behind them, I saw how Alberta wore her hair short, pixie cut that showed her promise mark and _molnija_ marks. A lot of female guardians did this. It didn't matter so much for me now, since my neck had no tattoos yet, but I didn't want to ever cut my hair.

She and Aiden didn't say anything and walked along almost like it was any other day. When we arrived, the reactions of my peers indicated it was anything but. They were in the middle of setting up when we entered the gym, and just like in the commons, all eyes fell on me.

All right, then. If I was going to be stuck here for a while, I wasn't going to act afraid of them all anymore. Spencer and I had once held this school's respect, and it was time to remind everyone of the staring, open-mouthed novices, I looked for a familiar face. Most of them were guys with a few girls in the mix. One caught my eye, and I could barely hold back a grin.

"Hey Vivian, wipe that drool off your face. If you're going to think about me naked, do it on your own time."

A few snorts and snickers broke the awed silence, and Vivian Ashford snapped out of her haze, giving me a lopsided smile. With auburn hair and spellcasting hazel eyes, she was really nice-looking. She was one of the most funniest out of everyone I knew. We'd beed good friends back in the day.

"This _is_ my time, Hathaway. I'm leading today's session."

"Oh yeah?" I retorted. "Huh. Well, I guess this is a good time to think about me naked, then."

"It's _always_a good time to think about you naked," added someone nearby, breaking the tension further. Eddie Castile. Another friend of mine.

Aiden shook his head and walked off, muttering something in Russian that didn't sound complimentary. But as for me...well, just like that, I was one of the novices again.

The class engulfed me, and I found myself laughing and seeing those I'd nearly forgotten about. Everyone wanted to know where we'd been; apparently Spencer and I had become legends. I couldn't tell them why we'd left, of course, so I offered up a lot of taunts and wouldn't-you-like-to-knows that served just as well.

The happy reunion lasted a few more minutes before the adult guardian who oversaw the training came over and scolded Vivian for neglecting her duties. Still grinning, she barked out orders to everyone, explaining what exercises to start with. Uneasily, I realized i didn't know most of them.

"Come on, Hathaway," she said, taking my arm. "You can be my partner. Let's see what you've been doing all this time."

I liked Vivian a lot and yes she was a girl...there were or well was only a few people that knew about my reputation with me liking girls the some way I liked boys...until it spread around the Academy like wildfire. I flirted with her to have some fun and she seemed to always have fun back. That was another reason while I liked her she never really let emotions get in her way.

An hour later of practicing the exercises unknown to me, she had her answer.

"Not practicing, huh?"

"Ow," I groaned, momentarily incapable of normal speech.

She extended a hand and helped me up from the mat she'd knocked me down on- about fifty times.

"I hate you," I told her, rubbing a spot on my thigh that was going to have a wicked bruise tomorrow

"You'd hate me more if I held back."

"Yeah, that's true," I agreed, staggering along as the class put the equipment back.

"You actually did okay."

"What? I just had my ass handed to me."

"Well of course you did. It's been two years. But hey, you're still walking. That's something." She grinned mockingly.

"Did I mention I hate you?"

She flashed me another smile, which quickly faded to something more serious. "Don't take this the wrong way...I mean, you really are a scrapper, but there's no way you'll be able to take your trials in the spring-"

"They're making me take extra practice sessions," I explained. Not that it mattered. I planned on getting Spencer and me out of here before these practices really became an issue. "I'll be ready."

"Extra sessions with who?"

"That tall guy, Aiden."

Vivian stopped walking and stared at me. "You're putting in extra time with Belikov?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So, the man is a _god._"

"Exaggerate much?" I asked.

"No, I'm serious. I mean, he's all quiet and antisocial usually, but when he fights...wow. If you think you're hurting now, you're going to be dead when he's done with you."

Great. Something else to improve my day.

I elbowed her and went on to second period. That class covered the essentials of being a bodyguard and was required for all seniors. Actually, it was the third in a series that had started junior year. That meant I was behind in this class too, but I hoped protecting Spencer in the real world had given me some insight.

Our instructor was Stan Alto, whom we referred to simply as "Stan" behind his back and "guardian Alto" in formal settings. He was a little older than Aiden, but not nearly as tall, and he always looked pissed off. Today, that looked intensified when he walked into the classroom and saw me sitting there. His eyes widen in mock surprise as he circled the room and came to stand by my desk.

"What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. Ashley Hathaway. What a privilege! How very _generous_ of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us."

I felt my cheeks burning, but in a great show of self-control, I stopped myself from telling him to fuck off. I'm pretty sure my face must have delivered that message, however, because his sneer increased. He gestured for me to stand up.

"Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

I sank into my seat. "You don't really mean-"

The taunting smile dried up. "I mean _exactly_ what I say, Hathaway. Go to the front of the class."

A thick silence enveloped the room. Stan was a scary instructor, and most of the class was too awed to laugh at my disgrace quite yet. Refusing to crack, I strode up to the front of the room and turned to face the class. I gave them a bold look and tossed my hair over my shoulders, earning a few sympathetic smiles from my friends. I then noticed that I had a larger audience than expected. A few guardians- including Aiden- Lingered in the back of the room.

Outside the Academy, guardians focused on one-on-one protection. Here, guardians had a lot more people to protect _and_they had to train the novices. So rather than follow any one person around, they worked shifts guarding the school as a whole and monitoring classes.

"So, Hathaway," said Stan cheerfully, strolling back up to the front with me. "Enlighten us about your protective techniques."

"My...techniques?"

"Of course. Because presumably you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us couldn't understand when you took an underage Moroi royal out of the Academy and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats."

It was the Paula lecture all over again, except with a bigger audience.

"We never ran into any Strigoi," I replied stiffly.

"Obviously," he said with a snicker. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."

When I didn't say anything, Stan started pacing in front of the class.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?"

"Sometimes." That was true- especially when we'd first run away. We'd relaxed a little after months went by with no attacks.

"_Sometimes_," he repeated in a high-pitched voice, making my answer sound incredibly stupid. "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"Er...no."

"No? But that's one of the first things mentioned in the chapter on solo guarding. Oh wait, you wouldn't know that because _you weren't there_."

I swallowed back more swear words. "I watched the area whenever we went out," I said, needing to defend myself.

"Oh? Well that's something. Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey?"

I didn't say anything.

"Ah. I'm guessing you used the Hathaway Glance-Around-When-You-Remember-To Method."

"No!" I exclaimed angrily. "That's not true. I watched her. She's still alive, isn't she?"

He walked back to me and leaned toward my face. "Because you got _lucky_."

"Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there," I shot back. "It's not like what we've been taught. It's safer than you guys make it sound."

"Safer? _Safer_? We are at war with the Strigoi!" he yelled. I could smell coffee on his breath, he was so close. "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him- and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, _nothing,_compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

No way was I going to let this jerk make me cry. Looking away from him, I tried to focus on something else. My eyes rested on Aiden and the other guardians. They were watching my humiliation, stone-faced.

"Moroi blood," I whispered.

"What was that?" asked Stan loudly. "I didn't catch it."

I spun back around to face him. "Moroi blood! Moroi blood makes them stronger."

He nodded on satisfaction and took a few steps back. "Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality. Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And _that_is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough- even with guardians- to protect themselves. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice. And as the Moroi disappear..."

"...so do the dhampirs," I finished.

"Well," he said. "It looks like you learned something after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

Ouch. I spent the rest of that horrible class- in my seat, thankfully- replaying those last words in my mind. The senior-year field experience was the best part of a novice's education. We'd have no classes for half a semester. Instead, we'd each be assigned a Moroi student to guard and follow around. The adult guardians would monitor us and test us with staged attacks and other threats. How a novice passed that field experience was almost as important as all the rest of her grades combined. It could influence which Moroi she got assigned to after graduation. And me? There was only one Moroi I wanted.

Two classes later, I finally earned my luch escape. As I stumbled across campus toward the commons, Aiden fell into step deside me, not looking particularly godlike- unless you counted his godly good looks.

"I suppose you saw what happened in Stan's class?" I asked, not bothering with titles.

"Yes."

"And you don't think that was unfair?"

"Was he right? Do you think you were fully prepared to protect Spencer?"

I looked down at the ground. "I kept her alive," I mumbled.

"How did you do fighting against your classmates today?"

I didn't answer and I knew I didn't need to. I'd had another training class after Stan's, and no doubt Aiden had watched me get beat up there too.

"If you can't fight _them_-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I snapped.

He slowed his long stride to match my pain-filled one.

"You're strong and fast by nature. You just need to keep yourself trained. Didn't you play any sports while you were gone?"

"Sure," I shrugged. "Now and then."

"You didn't join any teams?"

"Too much work. If I'd wanted to practice that much, I'd have stayed here."

He gave me an exasperated look. "You'll never be able to really protect the princess if you don't hone your skills. You'll always be lacking."

"I'll be able to protect her," I said fiercely.

"You have no guarantees of being assigned to her, you know- for your field experience _or_after you graduate." Aiden's voice was low and unapologetic. "No one want to waste the bond- but no one's going to give her an inadequate guardian you want to be with her, then you need to work for it. You have your lessons. You have me. Use us or don't. You're an ideal choice to guard Spencer when you both graduate- if you can prove worthy. I hope you will."

He walked away after that, and suddenly, I didn't feel like such a badass anymore.

By now, I'd burn up a lot of time leaving class. Most everyone else had long since sprinted inside the commons for lunch, eager to maximize their social time. I'd almost made it back there myself when a voice under the door's overhanging called to me.

"Ash?"

Peering in the voice's direction, I caught sight of Victor Dashkov, his kind face smiling at me as he leaned on a cane near the building's wall. His two guardians stood nearby at a polite distance.

"Mr Dash-er, Your Highness. Hi"

I caught myself just in time, having nearly forgotten about Moroi royal terms. I hadn't use them while living with humans. the Moroi chose their rulers from amoung twelve royal families. The eldest in the family got the title of "prince" or "princess." Spencer had gotten hers because she was the only one lest in her line.

"How was your first day?" he asked.

"Not over yet." I tried to think of something conversational. "Are you visiting here for a while?"

"I'll be leaving this afternoon after I say hello to Kyla. When I heard Spencer- and you- had returned, I simply had to come see you."

I nodded, not sure what else to say.

"I wanted to tell you..." He spoke hesitantly. " I understand the gravity of what you did, but I think Headmistress Paula failed to acknowledge something. You _did _keep Spencer safe all this time. That is impressive."

"Well, It's not like I faced down Strigoi or anything," I said

"But you faced down some things?"

"Sure. The school sent psi-hound once."

"Remarkable."

"Not really. Avoiding them was pretty easy."

He laughed." I've hunted with them before. They aren't _that_ easy to evade, not with their powers and intelligence."

It was true. Psi-hounds were one of many types of magical creatures that wandered the world, Creatures that humans never knew about or else didn't believe they'd really seen. The hounds traveled in packs and shared a sort of psychic communication that made them particularly deadly to their prey- as did the fact that they resembled mutant wolves.

"Did you face anything else?

I shrugged. "Little things here and there."

Remarkable," he repeated.

"Lucky, I think. It turns out I'm really behind in all this guardian stuff." I sounded just like Stan now.

"You're a smart girl. You'll catch up. And you also have your bond."

I looked away. My ability to "feel" Spencer had been such a secret for so long, it felt weird to have others know about it.

"The histories are full of stories of guardians who could feel when thier charge was in danger," Victor continued."I've made a hobby of studying up on it and some of the ancient ways. I've heard it's a tremendous asset."

"I guess." I shrugged. _What a boring hobby_, I thought, imagining him pouring over prehistoric histories in some dank library covered in spiderwebs.

"What is it like- if you don't mind me asking?"

"What's what like?"

"Your bond with Spencer."

"Oh, it's...I don't know. I just sort of always have this hum of how she feels. Usually it's just emotions. We can't send messages or anything." I didn't tell him about slipping into her head. That part of it was hard for me to understand.

"But it doesn't work the other way? She doesn't sense you?"

I shook my head.

His face shone with wonders. "How did it happen?"

"I don't know," I said, still glancing away. "Just started two years ago."

He frowned. "Near the time of the accident?"

Hesitantly, I accident was _not_ something I wanted to talk about, that was for sure. Spencer's memories were bad enough without my own mixing into them. Twisted metal. A sensation of hot, then cold, then hot again. Spencer screaming over me, screaming for me to wake up, screaming for her parents and her brother to wake up. None of them had, only me. And the doctors said that was a miracle in itself. They said I shouldn't have survived.

Apparently sensing my discomfort, Victor let the moment go and returned to his earlier excitement.

"I can still barely believe this It's been so long since this has happened. If it did happen more often...just think what it could do for the safety of all Moroi. If only others could experience this too. I'll have to do more research and see if we can replicate it with others."

"Yeah."

I was getting impatient, despite how much I liked him. Kyla rambled a lot, and it was pretty clear which parent she'd inherited _that_quality from. Lunch was ticking down, and although Moroi and novices shared afternoon classes, Spencer and I wouldn't have much time to talk.

"Perhaps we could-" He started coughing, a great, seizing fit that made his whole body shake. His disease, Sandovsky's Syndrome, took the lungs down with it while dragging the body toward death. I cast an anxious look at his guardians, and one of them stepped forward.

"Your Highness," he said politely, "you need to go inside. It's too cold out here."

Victor nodded. "Yes, yes. And I'm sure Ash here wants to eat."

He turned towrd me. "Thank you for speaking to me. I can't emphasize how much it means to me that Spencer is safe- and that you helped with that. I'd promise her father I'd look after her if anything happened to him, and I felt like quite the failure when you left."

A sinking sensation filled my stomach as I imagined him wracked with guilt and worry over our disappearance. Until now, I hadn't really thought about how others might have felt about us leaving.

We made our goodbyes, and I finally arrived inside the school. As I did, I felt Spencer's anxiety spike. Ignoring the pain in my legs, I picked up my pace into the commons. And nearly ran right into her.

She didn't even see me, though. Neither did the people standing with her: Aaron and that little doll girl. I stopped and listened, just catching the end of the coversation. The girl leaned toward Spencer, who seemed more stunned than anything else.

"It looks to _me _like it came from a garage sale. I thought a precious Dragomir would have standards." Scorn dripped off the word _Dragomir_.

Grabbing Doll Girl by the shoulder, I jerked her away. She was so light, she stumbled three feet and nearly fell.

"She does have standards," I said, "which is why you're done talking to her."

**Ok for those of you who have read the book....I love Mason I really do but I replaced him with my own character, because without her my twist for the story would be a tad bit difficult to do. Also I put this chapter up for you cause I might not be able to update in a while due to family issues but don't fret I'll be back as soon as all that has been taken care of. until then I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Ok, I'm back sorry for the lateness...anyways here is chapter four hope you enjoy it.**

We didn't have the entire commons' attention this time, thank God, but a few people had stopped to stare.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Doll Girl, blue eyes wide and sparkling with fury. Up close now, I was able to get a better look at her. She had the same slim build as most Moroi but not the usual height, which was partly what made her look so young. The tiny purple dress she wore was gorgeous- reminding me that I was indeed dressed in thrift-shop wear- but closer inspection led me to think it was a designer knockoff.

I crossed my arms across my chest. "Are you lost, little girl? The elementary school's over on the west campus."

A pink flush spread over her cheeks. "Don't you ever touch me again. You screw with me, and I'll screw you right back."

Oh man, what an opening that was. Only a head shake from Spencer stopped me from unleashing any number of hilarious comebacks. Instead, I opted for simple brute force, so to speak.

"And if you mess with either of us again, I'll break you in half. If you don't believe me, go ask Dawn Yarrow about what I did to her arm in ninth grade. You were probably at nap time when it happened."

One of the patrolling staff members strolled by right then, casting suspicious eyes at our little meeting. Doll Girl backed off, taking Aaron's arm. "Come on," she said.

"Hey, Aaron," I said cheerfully, remembering he was there. "Nice to see you again."

He gave me a quick nod and an uneasy smile, just as the girl dragged him off. Same old Aaron. He might be nice and cute, but aggressive he was not.

I turned to Spencer. "You okay?"

She nodded.

"Any idea who I just threatened to beat up?"

"Not a clue."

I started to lead her toward the lunch line, but she shook her head at me.

"Gotta go see the feeders."

A funny feeling settled over me. I'd gotten so used to being her primary food source that the thought of returning to the Moroi's normal routine seemed strange. In fact, it almost bothered me. It shouldn't have. Daily feedings were part of the Moroi's life, something I hadn't been able to offer her while living on our own.

I forced a smile. "Sure."

We walked to the feeding room, which sat adjacent to the cafeteria. It was set up with small cubicles, dividing the room's space in an effort to offer privacy. A dark-haired Moroi woman greeted us at the entrance and glanced down at her clipboard, flipping through the pages. Finding what she needed, she made a few notes and then gestured for Spencer to follow. Me she gave a puzzled look, but she didn't stop me from entering.

She led us to one of the cubicles where a plump, middle-aged woman sat leafing through a magazine. She looked up at our approach and smiled. In her eyes, I could see the dreamy, glazed-over look most feeders had. She's probably neared her quota for the day, judging from how high she appeared to be.

Recognizing Spencer, her smile grew. "Welcome back, Princess."

The greeter left us, and Spencer sat down in the chair beside the woman. I sensed a feeling of discomfort in her, a little different from my own. This was weird for her too; it had been a long time. The feeder, however, had no such reservations. An eager look crossed her face- the look of a junkie about to get her need fix.

The feeder tilted her head, giving Spencer full access to her neck. Her skin there was marked with scars from years daily bites. The infrequent feedings Spencer and I had done kept my neck clear; my bite marks never lasted more than a day or so.

Spencer leaned forward, fangs biting into the feeder's yielding flesh. The woman closed her eyes, making a soft sound of pleasure. I swallowed, watching Spencer drink. I couldn't see any blood, but I could imagine it. A surge of emotion grew in my chest: longing. Jealousy. I averted my eyes, staring at the floor. Mentally, I scolded myself.

_What's wrong with you? Why should you miss it? You only did it once every day. You aren't addicted, not like this. And you don't want to be."_

But I couldn't help myself, couldn't help the way I felt as I recalled the bliss and rush of a vampire's bite.

Spencer finished and we returned to the commons, moving toward the lunch line. It was short, since we only had fifteen minutes left, and I strolled up and began to load up my plate with french fries and some rounded, bite-size objects that looked vaguely like chicken nuggets. Spencer only grabbed a yogart, Moroi neede food, as dhampirs and humans did, but rarely had an appetite after drinking blood.

"So how'd classes go?" I asked.

She shrugged. Her face was bright with color and life now.

"Okay. Lots of stares. A _lot_ of stares. Lots of questions about where we were. Whispering."

"Same here," I said. The attendant checked us out, and we walked toward the tables. I gave Spencer a sidelong glance. "You okay with that? They aren't bothering you, are they?"

"No- it's fine."

To change the subject she handed me her class schedule. I looked it over.

_1st period Russian 2_

_2nd period American Colonial Literature_

_3rd period Basics of Elemental Control_

_4th period Ancient Poetry_

_-Lunch -_

_5th period Animal Behavior and Physiology_

_6th period Advanced Calculus_

_7th period Moroi Culture 4_

_8th period Slavic Art_

"Nerd," I said. "If you were in stupid math like me, we'd have the same afternoon schedule." I stopped walking. "Why are you in elemental basics? That's a sophomore class."

She eyed me. "Because Seniors take specialized classes."

We fell silent at that. All Moroi wielded elemental magic. It was one of the things that differentiated living vampires from the Strigoi, the dead vampires. Moroi viewed magic as a gift. It was part of their souls and connected them to the world.

A long time ago they had used their magic openly , averting natural disasters and helping with things like food and water production. They didn't need to do that much anymore, but the magic was still in their blood. It burned in them and made them want to reach out to the earth and wield their power. Academies like this existed to help Moroi control the magic and learn how to do increasingly complex things with it. Students also had to learn the rules that surrounded magic, rules that had been place for centuries and were strictly enforced.

All Moroi had a small ability in each element. When they got to be around our age, students "specialized" when one element grew stronger than the others; earth, water, fire, or air. Not specializing was like not going through puberty.

And Spencer...well, Spencer hadn't specialized yet.

"Is Ms. Carmack still teaching that? What she'd say?"

"She says she's not worried. She thinks it'll come."

"Did you- did you tell her about-"

Spencer shook her head. "No. Of course not."

We let the subject drop. It was one we thought about a lot but rarely spoke of.

We started moving again, scanning the tables as we decided where to sit. A few pairs of eyes looked up at us with blatant curiosity.

"Spencer!" came a nearby voice. Glancing over, we saw Kyla waving at us. Spencer and I exchanged looks. Kyla was sort of Spencer's cousin in the way Victor was sort of her uncle, but we'd never hung out with her all that much.

Spencer shrugged and headed in that direction. "Why not?"

I followed reluctantly. Kyla was nice but one of the most uninteresting people I knew. She threw her arms around us. Like Spencer, she had deep-blue eyes, but her hair was jet black, like Victor's had been before his disease grayed it.

"You're back! I knew you would be! Everyone said you were gone forever, but I never believed that. I knew you couldn't stay away. Why'd you go? There are so many stories about why you left!"

Spencer and I exchanged glances as Kyla went prattled on.

"Camille said one of you got pregnant and went off to have an abortion, but I knew that couldn't be true. Someone else said you went off to hang out with Ash's mom, but I figured Ms. Ivashkov and Daddy wouldn't have been so upset if you'd turned up there. Did you know we might get to be roommates? I was talking to..."

On and on she chatted, flashing her fangs as she spoke. I smiled politely, letting Spencer deal with the onslaught until Kyla asked a dangerous question.

"What'd you do for blood, Spencer?"

The table regarded us questioningly. Spencer froze, but I immediately jumped in, the lie coming effortlessly to my lips.

"Oh, it's easy. There are a lot of humans who want to do it."

"Really?" asked one of Kyla's friends wide-eyed.

" find 'em at parties and stuff. They're all looking for a fix from something, and they don't really get that a vampire is doing it: most are already so wasted they don't remember anyway." My already vague details dried up, so I simply shrugged in as cool and confident a way as I could manage. It wasn't like any of them knew any better. "Like I said, it's easy. Almost easier than with our own feeders."

Kyla accepted this and than launched into some other topic. Spencer shot me a grateful look.

Ignoring the conversation again, I looked around at past faces trying to find out who everyone was hanging out with and how power had shifted within the school. Vivian, sitting with a group of novices, caught my eye, and I smiled. Near her, a group of Moroi royals sat, laughing over something. Aaron and the brunette girl sat there too.

"Hey, Kyla," I said, turning around and cutting her off. She didn't seem to notice or mind. "Who's Aaron's new girlfriend?"

"Huh? Oh. Madison Rinaldi." Seeing my blank look, she asked, "Don't you remember her?"

"Should I? Was she here when we left?"

"She's always been here," said Kyla. "She's only a year younger than us."

I shot a questioning look at Spencer, who only shrugged.

"Why is she so pissed off at us?" I asked. " Neither of us know her."

"I don't know," answered Kyla. "Maybe she's Jealous about Aaron. She wasn't much of anybody when you guys left. She got _really_ popular_ really_ fast. She isn't royal or anything, but once she started dating Aaron, she-"

"Okay, thanks," I interrupted. "It doesn't really-"

My eyes lifted up from Kyla's face to Patrick Zeklos's, just as he passed by our table. Ah, Patrick. I'd forgotten about him. I liked flirting with Vivian and some of other novices, but Patrick was in an entirely different category. You flirted with the other guys simply for the sake of flirting. You flirted with Patrick in the hopes of getting you semi-naked with him. He was a royal Moroi, and he was hot, he should have worn a Warning: Flammable sign. He met my eyes and grinned.

"Hey Ash, welcome back. You still breaking hearts?"

"Are you volunteering?"

His grin widened. "Let's hang out sometime and find out. If you ever get off parole."

He kept walking, and I watched him admiringly. Kyla and her friends stared at me in awe.

"Oh my gawd," exclaimed one girl. I didn't remember her name. "That was _Patrick._"

"Yes," I said, smiling. "It certainly was."

"I wish I looked like you," she added with a sigh.

Their eyes fell on me. Technically, I was half-Moroi, but my looks were human. I'd blended in well with the humans during our time away, so much so that I'd barely thought about my appearance at all. Here, among the slim and small-chested Moroi girls, certain features- meaning my larger breasts and more defined hips- stood out. I knew I was pretty, but to Moroi boys, my body was more than just pretty: it was sexy in a risque' way. Dhampirs were an exotic conquest, a novelty all Moroi guys wanted to "try."

It was ironic that dhampirs had such an allure here, because slender Moroi girls looked very much like the super-skinny runway models so popular in the human world. Most humans could nver reach that "ideal" skinniness, just as Moroi girls could never look like me. Everyone wanted what she couldn't have.

Spencer and I got to sit together in our shared afternoon classes but didn't do much talking. The stares she'd mentioned certainly did follow us, but I found that the more I talked to people, the more they warmed up. Slowly, gradually, they seemed to remember who we were, and the novelty- though not the intrigue- of our crazy stunt wore off.

Or maybe I should say, they remembered who _I _was. Because I was the only one doing the talking. Spencer stared straight ahead, listening but neither acknowledging nor participating in my attempts at conversation. I could feel anxiety and sadness pouring out of her.

"All right," I told her when classes finally ended. We stood outside the school, and I was fully aware that in doing so, I was already breaking the terms of my agreement with Paula. And I was utterly shocked no one was around the area where we stood.

"We're not staying here," I told her, looking around the campus uneasily. "I'm going to find a way to get us out."

"You think we could really do it a second time?" Spencer asked quietly.

"Absolutely." I spoke with certainly, again relieved she couldn't read my feelings. Escaping the first time had been tricky enough. Doing it again would be a real bitch, not that I couldn't still find a way.

"You really would, wouldn't you?" She smiled, more to herself than to me, like she'd thought of something funny. "Of course you would. It's just, well..."She sighed. "I don't know if we should go. Maybe- maybe we should just stay."

I blinked in astonishment. "What?"

Not one of my more eloquent answers, but the best one I could manage. I'd never expected this from her.

"I saw you, Ash. I saw you talking to the other novices during class, talking about practice. You miss that."

"It's not worth it," I argued. "Not if...not if _you..._" I couldn't finish, but she was right. She'd read me. I _had _missed the other novices. Even some of the Moroi. But there was more to it than just that. The weight of my inexperience, how much I'd fallen behind, had been growing all day.

"It might be better," she countered. "I haven't had as many...you know, things happening in a while. I haven't felt like anyone was following or watching us."

I didn't say anything to that. Before we left, Spencer always felt someone was following her, like she was being hunted. I'd never had any evidence to support that, but I had once heard one of our teachers, Ms. Karp, a Moroi, go on and on about the same sort of thing. But I was sure she was pretty crazy.

"You never know never know who's watching," she used to say, walking briskly around the classroom as she shut all the blinds. "Or who's following you. Best to be safe. Best to _always_be safe." We snickered amongst ourselves because that's what students do around eccentric and paranoid teachers. The though of Spencer acting just like her bothered me.

"What's wrong?" Spencer asked, noticing that I was lost in thought.

"Huh? Nothing. Just thinking." I sighed, trying to balance my own wants with what was best for her. "Spence, we can stay, I guess...but there are a few conditions."

This made her laugh. "A Ashley ultimatum, huh?"

"I'm serious." Words I didn't say very much.

"I want you to stay away from the royals. Not like Kyla or anything, but you know the others. The power players. Camille. Carly. That group."

Her amusement turned to astonishment. "Are you serious?"

"Sure. You never liked them anyway."

"_You _did."

"No. Not really. I liked what they could offer. All the parties and stuff."

"And you can go without that now?" She looked skeptical.

"Sure. We did in Portland."

"Yeah, but that was different." Her eyes stared off, not really focused on any one thing. "Here..._here _I've got to be a part of that. I can't avoid it."

"The hell you do. Kyla stay out of that stuff."

"Kyla isn't going to inherit her family's title," she retorted. "I've already got it. I've got to be involved, start making connections. Clay-"

"Spence," I groaned. "You _aren't _Clay." I couldn't believe she was comparing herself to her brother.

"He was always involved in all that stuff."

"Yeah, well," I snapped back, "he's _dead _now."

Her face hardened. "You know sometimes you aren't very nice."

"You don't keep me around to be nice. You want nice, there a a dozen of sheep in there who would rip each other's throats to get in good with the Dragomir princess. You keep me around to tell you the truth, and here it is: Clay's dead. You're the heir now, and you're going to deal with it however you can. But for now, that means staying away from the other royals. We'll just lie low. Coast through the middle. Get involved in all that stuff again, Spence, and you'll drive yourself..."

"_Crazy?_" she supplied when I didn't finish.

Now I looked away. "I didn't mean..."

"It's okay," she said, after a moment. She sighed and touched my are. "Fine. We'll stay, and we'll keep out of all that stuff. We'll 'coast through the middle' like you want. Hang out with Kyla, I guess."

To be perfectly honest, I didn't want any of that. I wanted to go to all the royal parties, like we did before. We acutally kept out of all that stuff for years until Spencer's parents and brother died. Clay should have been the one to inherit her family's title, and he'd certainly acted like it. After his death, Spencer had felt it was up to her family duty to take his place. I'd gotten to join that world with her. It was easy for me, because I didn't really have to deal with the politics of it.

The cruel culture had eventually taken it's toll on Spencer. She had an open, kind nature, one that loved, and I hated to see her upset and stressed by royal games. She'd grown fragile since the accident, and all the parties and the world weren't worth seeing her hurt.

"All right then," I said finally. "We'll see how this goes. If anything goes wrong- anything at all- we leave. No arguments."

She nodded.

I glanced around the campus one more time.

"Ok I should go, I have that extra training to do with that Belikov guy," I told her. "I'll see you later."

Before I could leave Spencer grabbed my arm, "Ash."

I turned around to face her and my lips were met by hers, God it's seems like forever since I last kissed her. If there was one thing that had to remain secret...it was this. My relationship with Spencer. People did know about my reputation, but for Spencer's sake it had to stay secret. Along with her feeding off of me. We pulled apart, and I scanned the area one more time, before I pulled her back to me.

"Ash?"

We pulled about quickly and looked up at Aiden's looming form.

"You're late for practice," he said evenly. Seeing Spence, he gave a polite nod. "Princess."

As he and I walked away, I worried about Spencer and wondered if staying here was the right thing to do. I felt nothing alarming through the bond, but her emotions spiked all over the place. Confusion. Nostalgia. Fear. Anticipation. Strong and powerful, they flooded into me.

I felt the pull just before it happened. It was exactly like what had happened on the plane: her emotions grew so strong that they "sucked" me into her head before I could stop them. I could now see and feel what she did.

She walked slowly around the commons, toward the small Russian Orthodox chapel that served most of the school's religious needs. Spencer had always attended mass regularly. Not me.

As she went inside, I could feel that she wasn't there to pray. She had another purpose, one that I didn't know about. Glancing around, she verified that neither the priest nor any worshippers were close by. The place was empty.

Slipping through a doorway in the back of the chapel, she climbed a narrow set of creaky stairs up into the attic. Here it was dark and dusty. The only light came through a large stained-glass window that fractured the faint glow of sunrise into a tiny, multicolored gems across the floor.

I hadn't known until that moment that this room was a regular retreat for Spencer. But now I could feel it, feel her memories of how she used to escape here to be alone and to think. The anxiety in her ebbed away ever so slightly as she took in the familiar surroundings. She climbed up into the window seat and leaned her head back against its side, momentarily entranced by the silence and the light.

Moroi could stand some sunlight, unlike the Strigoi, but they had to limit their exposure.

_Breathe, just breathe, _she told herself. _It'll be okay. Ash will take care of everything. _

She believed that passionately, like always, and relaxed further.

Then a low voice spoke from the darkness.

"You can have the Academy but not the window seat."

She sprang up, heart pounding. I shared her anxiety, and my own pulse quickened. "Who's there?"

A moment later, a shape rose from behind a stack of crates, just outside her field of vision. The figure stepped forward, and in the poor lighting, familiar features materialized. Messy brown hair. Pale hazel eyes. Perpetually sardonic smirk .

Jay Ozera

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't bite. Well, at least not in the way your afraid of." He chuckled at his own joke.

She didn't find it funny. She had completely forgotten about Jay. So had I.

No matter what happened in our world, a few basic truths about vampires remained the same. Moroi were alive; Strigoi were undead. Moroi were mortal; Strigoi were immortal. Moroi were born; Strigoi were _made._

And there are two ways to make a Strigoi. Strigoi could forcibly turn humans, dhampirs, or Moroi with a single bite. Moroi tempted by the promise of immortality could become Strigoi by choice if the purposely killed another person while feeding. Doing that was considered dark and twisted, the greatest of all sins, both against the Moroi way of life and nature itself. Moroi who chose this dark path lost their ability to connect with elemental magic and other powers of te world. This was why they could no longer go into the sun.

This is what had happened to Jay's parents. They were Strigoi.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok I was going to post this on may 5 (cinco de mayo) but I got a little busy. I would like to think all who reviewed you guys keep me going. I'm sorry to say the next post will probably be a while...so enjoy this one. Ok on with the story.**

**Chapter 5**

_**Last time on Vampire Academy South Style:**_

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't bite. Well, at least not in the way your afraid of." He chuckled at his own joke.

She didn't find it funny. She had completely forgotten about Jay. So had I.

No matter what happened in our world, a few basic truths about vampires remained the same. Moroi were alive; Strigoi were undead. Moroi were mortal; Strigoi were immortal. Moroi were born; Strigoi were _made._

And there are two ways to make a Strigoi. Strigoi could forcibly turn humans, dhampirs, or Moroi with a single bite. Moroi tempted by the promise of immortality could become Strigoi by choice if the purposely killed another person while feeding. Doing that was considered dark and twisted, the greatest of all sins, both against the Moroi way of life and nature itself. Moroi who chose this dark path lost their ability to connect with elemental magic and other powers of te world. This was why they could no longer go into the sun.

This is what had happened to Jay's parents. They were Strigoi.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Or rather, they _had _been Strigoi. A regiment of guardians had hunted them down and killed them . If rumors were true, Jay had witnessed it all when he was very young. And although he wasn't Strigoi himself, some people thought he wasn't far off, with the way he always wore black and kept to himself.

Strigoi or not, I didn't trust him. He was a jerk, and I silently screamed at Spencer to get out of there- not that my screaming did much good. Stupid one-way bond.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Taking in the sights, of course. That chair with the tarp on it is particularly lovely this time of year. Over there, we have an old box full of the writings of the blessed and crazy St. Vladimir. And let's not forget that beautiful table with no legs in the corner."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and moved toward the door, wanting to leave. but he blocked her way.

"Well, what about _you_?" he taunted. "Why are you up here? Don't you have parties to go to or lives to destroy?"

Some of Spencer's old spark returned. "Wow, that's hilarious. Am I like a rite of passage now? Go and see if you can piss off Spencer to prove how cool you are? Some girl I don't even know yelled at me today, and now I've got to deal with you? What does it take to be left alone?"

"Oh. So that's why you're up here. For a pity party."

"This isn't a joke. I'm serious," I could tell that Spencer was getting was trumping her earlier distress.

He shrugged and leaned casually against the sloping wall.

"So am I. I love pity parties. I wish I'd brought the hats. What do you want to mope about first? How it's going to take you a whole day to be popular and loved again? How you'll have to wait a couple of weeks before hollister can ship out new clothes? If you spring for rush shipping, it might no tbe so long."

"Let me leave," she said angrily, this time pushing him aside.

"Wait," he said, as she reached the door. The sarcasm disappeared from his voice. "What...um, what was it like?"

"What was _what _like?" she snapped.

"Being out there. Away from the Academy."

She hesitated for a moment before answering, caught off guard by what seemed like a genuine attempt at conversation.

"It was great. No one knew who I was. I was just another face. Not Moroi. Not royal. Not anything." she looked down at the floor. "Everyone here thinks they know who I am."

"Yeah. It's kind of hard to outlive your past," he said bitterly.

It occurred to Spencer at that moment -and me to by default- just how it might be to Jay. Most of the time, people treated him like he didn't exist. Like he was a ghost. They didn't talk to or about him. They just didn't notice him. The stigma of his parents' crime was too strong, casting its shadow onto the entire Ozera family.

Still, he'd pissed her off, and she wasn't about to feel sorry for him.

"Wait - is this your pity party now?"

He laughed, almost approvingly. "This room has been my pity party for a year now."

"Sorry," said Spencer snarkily. "I was coming here before I left. I've got a longer claim."

"Squatters' rights. Besides, I have to make sure I stay near the chapel as much as possible so people know I haven't gone Strigoi...yet." Again, the bitter tone rang out.

"I used to always see you at the mass. Is that the only reason you go? To look good?"

Strigoi couldn't enter holy ground. More of that sinning-against-the-world-thing.

"Sure," he said. "Why else go? For the good of your _soul?_"

"Whatever," said Spencer, who clearly had a different opinion. "I'll leave you alone then."

"Wait," he said again. He didn't seem to want her to go. "I'll make you a deal. You can hang out here too if you tell me one thing."

"What?" She glanced back at him.

He leaned forward. "Of all the rumors I heard about you today - and believe me, I heard plenty, even if no one actually told them to me- there was one that didn't come up very much. They dissected everything else: why you left, what you did out there, why you came back, the specialization, what Ash said to Madison, blah, blah, blah. And in all of that, no one, no one ever questioned that stupid story Ash told about there being all sorts of fringe humans who let you take blood."

She looked away, and I could feel her cheeks starting to burn.

"It's not stupid. Or a story."

He laughed softly. "I've lived with humans. My aunt and I stayed away after my parents...died. It's not that easy to find blood."

When she didn't answer, he laughed again.

"It was Ash, wasn't it? She fed you?"

A renewed fear shot through both her and me. No one at shcool could know about that. Paula and the guardians on the scene knew, but they'd kept that knowledge to themselves.

"Well. If that's not friendship, I don't know what is," he said.

"You can't tell anyone," she blurted out.

This was all we needed. As I'd just been reminded, feeders were vampire-bite addicts. We accepted that as part of life but still looked down on them for it. For anyone else -_especially _a dhampir- letting a Moroi take blood from you was almost, well, dirty. In fact, one of the kinkiest, practically pornographic things a dhampir could do was let a Moroi drink blood during sex.

Spencer and I hadn't had sex, not yet anyways, but we'd both known what others would think of me feeding her.

"Don't tell anyone," Spence repeated.

He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets and sat down on one of the crates.

"Who am I going to tell? Look, go grab the window seat. You can have it today and hang out for awhile. If you're not still afraind of me."

She hesitated, studying him. He looked dark and surly, lips curled in a sort of I'm-such-a-rebel-smirk. But he didn't look too dangerous. He didn't look Strigoi. Gingerly, she sat back down in the window seat, unconsciously rubbing her arms against the cold.

Jay watched her, and a moment later, the air warmed up considerably. Spencer met Jay's eyes and smiled, surprised she'd never noticed how icy blue they were before.

"You specialized in fire?"

He nodded and pulled up a broken chair. "Now we have luxury accommodations."

I snapped out of the vision.

"Ash? Ash?"

Blinking, I focused on Aiden's face. He was leaning toward me, his hands gripping my shoulders. I'd stopped walking; we stood in the middle of the quad separating the upper school buildings.

"Are you alright?"

"I...yeah. I was...I was with Spence..." I put a hand to my forehead. I'd never had such a long or clear experience like that. "I was in her head."

"Her...head?"

"Yeah. It's part of the bond." I didn't really feel like elaborating.

"Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she's..." I hesitated. _Was _she all right? Jay Ozera had just invited her to hang out with him. Not good. There was "coasting through the middle," and then there was turning to the dark side. But the feelings humming through our bond were no longer scared or upset. She was almost content, though still a little nervous.

"She's not in danger," I finally said. I hoped.

"Can you keep going?"

The hard, stoic warrior I'd met earlier was gone -just for a moment- and he actually looked concerned. Truly concerned. Feeling his eyes on me like that made something flutter inside of me -which is stupid, of course. I had no reason to get all goofy, just because the man was too good-looking for his own good. After all, I was with Spencer, so why would I fall for him when he was supposedly going to leave me in all sorts of pain.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

I went into the gym's dressing room and changed into the workout clothes someone had finally thought to give me after a day of practicing in jeans and a T-shirt. Gross. Spencer hanging out with Jay troubled me, but I shoved that thought away for later as my muscles informed me they did not want to go through any more exercise today.

So I suggested to Aiden that maybe he should let me off this time.

He laughed, and I was pretty sure it was _at _me an not _with _me.

"Why is that funny?"

"Oh," he said, his smile dropping. "You were serious."

"Of course I was! Look, I've technically been awake for _two _days. Why do we have to start this training now? Let me go to bed," I whined. "It's just one hour."

He crossed his arms and looked down at me. His earlier concern was gone. He was all business now. Tough love.

"How do you feel right now? After the training you've done so far?"

"I hurt like hell."

"You'll feel worse tomorrow."

"So?"

"So, better to jump in now while you still feel...not as bad."

"What kind of logic is that?" I retorted.

But I didn't argue anymore as he led me into the weight room. He showed me the weights and the reps he wanted me to do, then sprawled in a corner with a battered Western novel. Some god.

When I finished, he stood beside me and demonstrated a few cool-down stretches.

"How'd you end up to be Spencer's guardian?" I asked. "You weren't here a few years ago. Were you even trained at this school?"

He didn't answer right away. I got the feeling he didn't talk about himself very ofter.

"No. I attended the one in Siberia."

"Whoa. That's got to be the only place worse than Montana."

A glint of something -maybe amusement- sparked in his eyes, but didn't acknowledged the joke.

"After I graduated, I was a guardian for a Zeklos lord. He was killed recently." His smile dropped, his face grew dark. "They sent me here because they needed extras on campus. When the princess turned up, they assigned me to her, Since I'd already be around. Not that it matters until she leaves campus."

I thought about what he'd said before. Some Strigoi killed the guy he was supposed to have been guarding?

"Did this lord die on your watch?"

"No. He was with his other guardian. I was away."

Moroi expected a lot from us, but they did not recognize that the guardians were -more or less- only human. So, guardians got pay and time off like you'd get in any other job. Some hard-core-guardians -like my mom- refused vacations, vowing never to leave their Moroi's sides. Looking at Aiden now, I had a feeling he might very well turn into one of those. If he'd been away on legitimate leave, he could hardly blame himself for what happened to that guy. Still, he probably did anyway. I'd blame myself too if something to Spencer.

"Hey," I said, suddenly, wanting to cheer him up, "did you help come up with the plan to get us back? Because it was pretty good. Brute force and all that."

He arched an eyebrow curiously. "You're complimenting me on that?"

"Well, it was a hell of a lot better than the last one they tried."

"Last one?"

"Yeah. In Chicago. With the pack of psi-hounds."

"This was the first time we found you. In Portland."

I sat up from my stretches and crossed my legs.

"Um, I don't think I imagined psi-hounds. Who else could have sent them? They only answer to Moroi. Maybe no one told you about it."

"Maybe," he said dismissively. I could tell by his face he didn't believe that.

I returned to the novices' dorm after that. The Moroi students lived on the other side of the quad, closer to the commons. The living arrangements were partly based on convenience. Being here kept us novices closer to the gym and training grounds. But we also lived separately to accommodate the differences in Moroi and dhampir lifestyles. Their dorm had almost no windows, aside from tinted ones that dimmed sunlight. They also had a special section where feeders always stayed on hand. The novices' dorm was built in a more open way, allowing for more light.

I had my own room because there were so few novices, let alone girls. The room they'd given me was small and plain, with a twin bed and a desk with a computer. My few belongings had been spirited out of Portland and now sat in boxes around the room. I rummaged through them, pulling out a T-shirt to sleep in. I found a couple of pictures as I did, one of Spencer and me at a football game in Portland, I remembered it well I didn't want to go but Spencer had bugged me about going so we went. The other picture was taken we I'd gone on vacation with her and her family, A year before the accident.

I sat them on the desk and booted up the computer. Someone from tech support had helpfully given me a sheet with instructions for renewing my e-mail account and setting up a password. I did both, happy to discover no one had realized that this would serve as a way for me to communicate with Spencer. Too tired to write to her now, I was about to turn everything off when I noticed I already had a message. From Christine Hathaway. It was short:

_"I'm glad you're back. What you did was inexcusable." _

"Love you too, Mom" I muttered, shutting it all down.

When I went to bed afterward, I passed out before even hitting the pillow, and just as Aiden had predicted. I felt ten times worse when I woke up the next morning. Lying there in bed, I reconsidered the perks of running away. Then I remembered getting my ass kicked and figured the only way to prevent that from happening again was to go endure some more of it this morning.

My soreness made it all that much worse, but I survived the before-school practice with Aiden and my subsequent classes without passing out or fainting.

At lunch, I dragged Spencer away from Kyla's table early, to the girl's restroom, making sure no one was following or watching us. Then gave her a Paula-worthy lecture about Jay - Particularly chastising her for letting him know about our blood arrangement. If that got out, it'd kill both of us socially, and I didn't trust him not to tell.

Spencer had other concerns.

"You were in my head again?" she exclaimed. "For _that _long?"

"I didn't do it on purpose," I argued. "It just happened. And that's not the point. How long did you hang out with him afterward?"

"Not that long. It was kind of...fun."

"Well, you can't do it again. If people find out you're hanging out with him, they'll crucify you." I eyed her warily.

"What!? And if they find out about _us _they'll surely crucify the both of us, Ash," she snapped back, taking me by surprise.

"That's why we are limiting our time alone together," I told her.

"What about Aiden? Did he see us kissing? Did he say anything?" She asked lowering her voice.

I looked into her eyes...now since I thought about it, I was worried. If Aiden knew, would he tell the other guardians? Would he tell Paula?

"I don't know Spence..." I told her. "But just please stay away from Jay. He's dangerous."

"You're overreacting. He's not going Strigoi."

"He's a bad influence."

She laughed. "Just like you?"

"Spence I'm serious. Please for me, stay away from Jay," I told her.

She was silent for a moment, "Ok for you. But I can't promise that he will stay away from me."

I smiled at her, and gently placed a kiss on her forehead, "Just as long as you stay away from him, the best you can." I pulled back to look in her eyes again.

"Spencer? Spencer are you in here?" called Kyla's voice. I quickly and quietly jumped up on the toilet, so Kyla wouldn't see four feet in one stall.

Spencer looked at me. "Yes," she answered.

"Oh ok, um...when you get done could you come he;p me with something?"

"Um...sure Kyla, I'll be right there."

I heard the door close then got back down. "Ok, so we agree. No more Jay?"

She nodded. I opened the stall door then walked to the main door, "You go first."

Spencer gave me a quick peck then turned to leave. I waited for three minutes then left myself. When I walked out a hand caught my arm. It was Patrick.

"Hey," I said jokingly. "Hands of the merchandise."

He flashed me a smile but kept his hand on me. "Ash, tell Jake about the time you started the fight in Ms. Karp's class."

I cocked my head toward him, giving him a playful smile. "I started a lot of fights in her class."

"The one with the hermit crab. And the gerbil."

I laughed, recalling it. "Oh yeah. It was a hamster, I think. I just dropped it into the crab's tank, and they were both worked up from being so close to me, so they went at it."

Jake, a guy who supposedly transferred last year, apparently, and hadn't heard of this. "Who won?"

I looked at Patrick quizzically. "I don't remember. Do you?"

"No. I just remember Karp freaking out." He turned toward Jake. "Man, you should have seen this messed-up teacher we used to have. Used to think people were after her and would go off on stuff that didn't make any sense. She was nuts. Used to wander campus while everyone was asleep."

I smiled tightly, like I thought it was funny. Instead, I thought back to Ms. Karp again, surprised to be thinking about her for the second time in two days. Patrice was right -she _had _wandered campus a lot when she still worked here. It was pretty creepy. I 'd run into her once -unexpectedely.

I'd been climbing out of my dorm window to hang out with some people. It was after hours, and we were all supposed to be in our rooms, fast asleep. Such escape tactics were a regular practice for me. I was good at them.

But I fell that time. I had a second-floor room, and I lost my grip about halfway down. Sensing the ground rush up toward me, I tried desperately to grab hold of something and slow my fall. The building's rough stone tore into my skin, causing cuts I was too preoccupied to feel. I slammed into the grassy earth, back first, getting the wind knocked out of me.

"Bad form, Ashley. You should be more careful. Your instructors would be disappointed."

Peering through he tangle of my hair, I saw Ms. Karp looking down at me, a bemused look on her face. Pain, in the meantime, shot through every part of my body.

Ignoring it the best I could, I clambered up to my feet. Being in class with Crazy Karp while surrounded by other students was one thing. Standing outside alone with her was an entirely different matter. she always had an eerie, distracted gleam in her eye that made my skin break out in goose bumps.

There was also now a high likelihood she'd drag me off to Paula for detention. Scarier still.

Instead, she just smiled and reached for my hands. I flinched but let her take them. She _tsked _when she saw the scarps. Tightening her grip on them, she frowned slightly. A tingle burned my skin, laced with a sort of pleasant buzz, and then the wounds closed up. I had a brief sense of dizziness. My temperature spiked. The blood disappeared, as did the pain in my hip and leg.

Gasping, I jerked my hands away. I'd seen a lot of Moroi magic, but never anything like that.

"What...what did you do?"

She gave me that weird smile again. "Go back to you dorm, Ash. There are bad things out here. You never know what's following you."

I was still staring at my hands. "But..."

I looked back up at her and for the first time noticed scars on her sides of her forehead. Like nails had dug into them. She winked.

"I won't tell on you if you don't tell on me."

I jumped back to the present, unsettled by the memory of that bizarre night. Patrick, in the meantime, was telling me about a party.

"You've got to slip your leash tonight. We're going up to that spot in the woods around eight thirty. Mark got some weed."

I sighned wistfully, regret replacing the chill I'd felt over the memory of Ms. Karp.

"Can't slip that leash. I'm with my Russian jailer."

He let go of my arm, looking disappointed, and ran a hand through his hair. Yeah. Not being able to hang out with him was a damned shame. Don't get me wrong, I loved Spencer with all my heart, but for social purposes I had a reputation to uphold.

"Can't you ever get off for good behavior?" he joked.

I gave him what I hoped was a seductive smile turning around to head to class. "Sure," I called over my shoulder. "If I was ever good."


	6. Important Note

**OK, so my grammar and spelling check is a little out of it...what I need is a beta. Just let me know if your interested on taking up this awesome role. I would like to actually post one new chapter up without mess-ups. LoL, so message me or review to let me know. And again the next chapter probably won't be up anytime soon...I got to find a job since I got laid off my other one. Thank you!**


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